The Policy of Honesty

While reading the article on ajc.com about the trouble lawyer Lynn Swank now finds herself in (http://www.ajc.com/news/henry/attorney-representing-catholic-archdiocese-588965.html) I was struck by an unanticipated feeling – sympathy.  No, I have never forged a judge’s signature on an order.  I have never even come close to that level of poor judgment.  I have, however, found myself, at times, over-worked and in over my head.  During those times the temptation to do something, anything, to make a disappointed or angry client happy is strong.  While I have no idea what Ms. Swank was thinking – in fact, I don’t even know Ms. Swank – I have a pretty good guess that she hadn’t done what her client wanted because she didn’t know how or didn’t have the time.  I have been there, and I know the feeling that I have to take action, whatever the action is, to make it right.  This is where the age-old mantra that your grandmother taught you should kick in: honesty is the best policy.  Ms. Swank’s travails, (here comes the qualifier that any lawyer worth his or her salt would interpose – Ms. Swank is merely accused of wrongdoing, and is afforded the benefit of innocence until proven guilty.  And, by the way, law enforcement does get it wrong sometimes, so that’s not interposed just for the hell of it), are the lesson I tell myself and I tell my clients: it is rarely the mistake that causes your downfall.  It is the cover-up of the mistake that causes your downfall.  I can imagine a scenario where a lawyer simply calls her client and says, “I’m sorry, I haven’t done it, I can’t do it, here’s a refund, good luck.”  While this is an awfully tough phone call to make, it sure beats finding oneself in the midst of a GBI investigation, criminal charges and a Bar Association investigation sure to follow.  So, listen to your inner-grandmother more often.